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Macbeth Coercive Power Analysis

Decent Essays

Plato, a greek philosopher, once said, “The measure of a man is what he does with power” (Brainyquote 1). In other words, when giving someone power, their true character is revealed. For instance, in William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, some character’s genuine personalities were unveiled once obtaining high authority over others. In the drama with Macbeth, he portrays both coercive power and referent power throughout the written work, as defined in, “French and Raven’s Five Forms of Power.” For one thing, Macbeth demonstrates coercive power through his “cold...impoverished style of leadership and his unjustified actions.” As interpreted in “French and Raven’s Five Forms of Power,” coercive power can be “problematic and subject to abuse” resulting in a very “cold, impoverished style of leadership” (French and Raven … 3). While a position may give the “capability to coerce others,” it does not necessarily mean they have the justification on doing so. For example, when Macbeth was conversing with the three murders he claims to them, “Both of you/Know Banquo was your enemy … So is he mine … And though I could with barefaced power sweep him from my sight … I must not … thence it is/That I to your assistance [...] And with him/(To leave no rubs nor botches in the work)/Fleance his son … must embrace the fate/of that dark hour” (Shakespeare 3.1.89-91). That is, Macbeth asks the murders to use their status of murdering both Banquo and Fleance in fear of them taking his power away and revealing that he was the one who assassinated King Duncan earlier in the play. He did not have the justification on killing them just because he wanted to remain King of Scotland. He would go to those lengths to order a murder on his best friend and ruin his loyalty to all three of them. Another example would be when Ross, a nobleman, was speaking of Macbeth to Macduff, a heir to the throne when Duncan was alive, asking, “ ‘Stands Scotland where it did?’/ ‘Alas, poor country/Almost afraid to know itself … nothing is once seen to smile/Where sighs and groans and shrieks ren the air/Are made, not marked; where violent sorrow seems/A modern ecstasy’ ” (4.3.151). To explain, the people of Scotland are unhappy and are suffering

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